Lycidas' POV
The morning light seeped through the narrow windows of the chamber, its pale fingers clawing at the stone walls, casting a dim glow that felt more like a shroud than a blessing. I stood there, cloaked in shadow, my breath a quiet snarl in my chest, the beast within pacing its cage. Finn was before me, his back turned, gazing out as if the world beyond held some answer I'd never given him. He didn't hear me approach - my footsteps were a predator's whisper, honed from years of stalking prey through moonlit forests and blood-soaked battles.
As I closed the distance, he turned his head, and I caught the flicker in his eyes - relief, perhaps, or a fool's hope. His lips parted, the ghost of a smile tugging at them, but before it could fully bloom, I struck. My claws, sharp as moonlight on steel, tore through his chest with a wet, ripping sound. Blood bloomed like dark flowers across his shirt, vivid and cruel against the white fabric, spreading as if eager to c
Leah's POVThe moon hung low, a sullen bruise in the sky, casting its pale judgment over the stone walls of Lucian's study. Its light slithered through the high windows, pooling on the floor where I stood, my swollen belly heavy under my dress, a reminder of the life I carried and the debts I owed. The air was thick with the scent of old parchment and wax, and I felt the weight of every step I'd taken to get here, each one a defiance of the exhaustion that clawed at my bones. My father, Lucian, sat behind his desk, his broad shoulders hunched over a sprawl of documents, his face carved with lines of weariness and resolve. The room hummed with the quiet authority of his presence, a king who wore his crown like a shackle.I didn't speak at first, just let my gaze drift over the shelves, the maps pinned to the walls, the faint glint of a dagger resting on a side table. My heart thudded, a traitor in my chest, as I remembered the last time I'd stood in a room like this wit
Lycidas' POVThe morning light seeped through the narrow windows of the chamber, its pale fingers clawing at the stone walls, casting a dim glow that felt more like a shroud than a blessing. I stood there, cloaked in shadow, my breath a quiet snarl in my chest, the beast within pacing its cage. Finn was before me, his back turned, gazing out as if the world beyond held some answer I'd never given him. He didn't hear me approach - my footsteps were a predator's whisper, honed from years of stalking prey through moonlit forests and blood-soaked battles.As I closed the distance, he turned his head, and I caught the flicker in his eyes - relief, perhaps, or a fool's hope. His lips parted, the ghost of a smile tugging at them, but before it could fully bloom, I struck. My claws, sharp as moonlight on steel, tore through his chest with a wet, ripping sound. Blood bloomed like dark flowers across his shirt, vivid and cruel against the white fabric, spreading as if eager to c
Leah's POVI stepped out of Redwood Mansion, the heavy doors groaning shut behind me like a beast drawing its last ragged breath. The moon hung low and vicious in the sky, its bloody light spilling over the battlefield, painting the carnage in shades of rust and shadow. The air reeked of death - smoke curling thick and acrid, blood pooling in the dirt, the metallic tang clawing at my throat. Before me, the crowd shuffled through the wreckage, their faces hollowed out by exhaustion, hands stained red as they hauled bodies and hacked at the earth. Some wailed, others worked in silence, but all moved like ghosts trapped in a nightmare they couldn't wake from. My hand drifted to my swollen belly, fingers trembling against the faint kick of life inside me. It was the only thing tethering me to this fucked-up world.A sudden blur of motion snapped my head up, and I froze as two massive shapes lunged out of the haze. Direwolves - huge, hulking bastards with eyes like burning
Leah's POVThe darkness clung to me like a second skin, heavy and suffocating, as I lay crumpled in that cursed cage. Pain gnawed at my bones, a relentless beast that had long since made a home in my flesh. My left eye was swollen shut, a throbbing reminder of Magda's fists, but I forced the right one open, squinting through the haze of blood and exhaustion. That's when I saw him - Lucas. He stormed into the room like a thunderclap, tall and handsome, his presence a jagged blade slicing through my despair. Majestic, he was, even with that chrome-colored mechanical arm glinting cruelly in the dim light, a stark contrast to the flesh I'd once known.He didn't hesitate. That gleaming arm shot out, fingers wrapping tight around Magda's throat, squeezing until her gasps rasped against the silence. With his other foot, he smashed the cage door open, the metal shrieking as it bent under his fury. I flinched at the sound, my body tensing out of habit, but then his eyes found m
Leah's POVI opened my eyes to a nightmare carved into my own flesh. My skin was ulcerating, sores splitting open like overripe fruit, weeping pus and blood across my arms, my legs, my chest. The stench hit me first - rotting meat, sour and thick, clogging my throat - but there was no pain. No sting, no burn, just a cold, creeping numbness that pinned me down like chains. I tried to move, to claw my way out of this decaying shell, but my limbs wouldn't answer. My body was a traitor, a cage of meat and bone, and I was trapped inside it.In front of me, Leo thrashed under the grip of a naked werewolf - a hulking, beastly thing, more monster than man, its matted fur streaked with filth. His bloodshot eyes locked onto mine, wild and desperate, pleading for something I couldn't give. Through our Mindlink, his voice rasped into my skull, faint and final - "I'm dead now. You will be the next, sister."The words sank into me like teeth, tearing at the last threads of ho
Leo's POVI had no concept of home. I had been thrown far away from my father since I was young. I could only see my father from afar at the full moon ball every year. At this time, people around me reminded me to bow my head and bow to my father because he was the highly anticipated Lycan King.Everyone knew that I was the illegitimate child of my father, and everyone looked down on me because of this. When a person's inferiority exceeded the love given by everyone around them, the result was the way I was now.I found my sanity in the lab, but Leah's appearance confused my entropy. This selfish, arrogant, and always independent Lycan Princess was the focus of attention wherever she went.I once designed an assassination when I was young. I hired the best werewolf assassin, seemingly to kill Lucian, but actually wanted to kill Leah. However, I underestimated Lucian's love for Leah - it was not the love between siblings. It was the love between father and